ACT public school staff reported 38 incidents of occupational violence per school day as the number of safety improvement notices tripled in the last financial year.
Staff submitted 7448 incidents of occupational violence reports through the RiskMan reporting system in 2022-23, up from 5628 in the previous financial year.
Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Patrick Judge said the rate of occupational violence was unacceptable.
"Our members deserve to have safe workplaces and the ACT Education Directorate guarantees them workplaces where occupational violence will not be tolerated through the enterprise agreement, so there's a need for performance to be much better," Mr Judge said.
A directorate spokesman said the increase in occupational violence was because of an increase in the number of incidents in school and the community and an improved reporting culture and training for staff.
"The term 'occupational violence' encompasses a broad range of incidents and includes issues such as intimidation, threats, and harassment via multiple channels including, phone, in person, electronic communication and media," the spokesman said.
"Types of incidents can range from offensive language through to physical violence."
The spokesman said there was no specific target for reducing the number of occupational violence but the directorate had several strategies including developing a campaign to change poor attitudes and behaviours in schools, rolling out the positive behaviours for learning framework and teaching students social and emotional skills through the Australian curriculum.
Mr Judge said since the COVID-19 pandemic there was an increase in violence from parents and community members towards school staff and teachers wanted more consistency between schools regarding how behaviours were managed.
"It needs to be the case that no matter which school you're going to in the ACT, the expectation is the same high expectation of the behaviour of everybody, whether that's staff or students or community members," he said.
Overall, 10,067 safety incident reports were lodged in 2022-23, which equates to more than 50 reports per day, up from 7106 incidents in the 2021-22 period.
The Education Directorate's annual report said the increase in overall safety incidents was because schools were open for longer compared to 2020 and 2021 when there were COVID-19 shutdowns.
Mr Judge said while the number of occupational violence incidents remained high, an increasing proportion of safety issues were related to general work stress.
"We would say the likely reason for that is under-staffing, that where schools are unable to fill their positions people are experiencing more work stress than they otherwise would and that's leading to injuries, illnesses or near misses that are reported through RiskMan," he said.
He said staff shortages also increase the risk of violence because it was more difficult for teachers to build relationships and have consistent expectations when classes were frequently split or taken by casual teachers.
The number of reports increased significantly since the introduction of the RiskMan reporting system in 2015-16 and after the directorate was subject of an enforceable undertaking for occupational violence in 2018.
WorkSafe ACT issued 30 improvement notices to the directorate in 2022-23, up from nine in the previous financial year.
Hawker College had the most improvement notices with 11 notices during the year. Dickson College had six notices, Lanyon High, Gold Creek and Melba Copland Secondary Schools had three and Lyneham Primary and Calwell High schools had two notices.
A directorate spokesman said WorkSafe ACT had increased the number of inspections of all ACT government workplaces, including schools, during the last reporting period.
Issues with electrical test-and-tag and first aid kits were frequently raised in the improvement notices.
WorkSafe ACT commissioner Jacqueline Agius declined to be interviewed about safety in public schools.
A prohibition notice, which is more serious than an improvement notice, was issued to Dickson College over mould and possum waste in the SOSE/humanities block and the Ant Hill Theatre.
Melba Copland Secondary School also received a prohibition notice over mould in three science labs and a science store room.
"The directorate worked with each school and WorkSafe ACT to address the issues identified in the notices and close them within the timeframes agreed with WorkSafe ACT," the report said.
The report said school leaders were trained to handle negative incidents and the directorate was collaborating with ACT Policing.
"A memorandum of understanding between ACT Policing and the directorate has been drafted and is in the final stages of consultation," the report said.
"It will include regular training and collaboration activities between the two organisations."
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